Francesco Cincotta

born in 1939 in Fulton, NY, USA.

‘I am a late life artist. Like so many older artists I was for many years a hobbyist. Later, I began taking photographs and making small videos for friends who included them in their publications, gallery and museum shows. As an increasing number of these works were published or shown in public spaces, I devoted more time and effort to imaging.’


Current Projects

2008 London Streets
A local photographic project that uses an ordinary pocket digital camera to capture the excitement and diversity of the cities streets using a camera more common to tourists than photographers. This project is about 8 months old.

2005 – 2007 Happy ‘Enry Prologue
A conceptual project of music and video and still images done in collaborationwith the composers Claudio Leisse and Andrea Santini. The videos, developed over a period of two years, were based on music conceived with each composer working separately, in a game of Cadavre Exquix. where each artist worked alone, building piecemeal, a complete musical work. During a chance meeting at the Jazz Café in 2004, I was invited by one of the composers to interpret one of of the six pieces visually. Later, we decided to animate the entire work with still or video images. We met for the first time to review the project in January 2007. This project is finished.

La Poesia di un Abbandono ( The Poetry of Abandonment )
A video, sound and still photographic project, shot in Venice, about the loss of religious and metaphysical faith. The project is in the final stages at this time.

since 2006 Time Warp
A sound and video meditation on the passing of time inspired by the writings of Heraclitus, Augustine, Gianbattista Vico and Henri Bergson. I am in the initial stages of recording individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds speaking about time and memory. I especially seek-out those who speak endangered European dialects.

since 2004 Videos
In 2004, during the months of November and December, we traveled with the poets Cecilia Vicuña and Jerome Rothenberg through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay andBrazil. To date, the trip has resulted in a documentary, Bar Rapa Nui, about an encounterbetween indigenous Mapuche poets and the American and Chilean poets;and a conceptual video, Dunes, based on a performance by the poets on thesand dunes overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Several other videos are in the works.

since 2001 Portraits of Resistance
A Multi-media project, which attempts to archive portraits, interviews and relatedworks of cultural resistance of political resistors from the UK and the USA. Althoughthe major focus is on digital still photography, video and sound are used ina supportive role to give a visual context to the demonstrations from which theportraits are drawn and to exhibit other works related to the cultural climate inwhich the resistors make their statements.

Video Exhibitions
2006 Naked Punch Event, Truman Brewery London:* ‘Happy ‘Enry Prologue’, Dunes, Bar Rapa Nui.

2005 Centro Cultural de España, Buenos Aires, Argentina: ‘Empire Red’; Barrio Independencia, Santiago: ‘Chile, Bar Rapa Nui Video’.

1999 Art in General, New York, ‘Cloud-Net’; Diverseworks Artspace, Houston: ‘Cloud-Net’.

1998 Hallwalls Contempory Arts Center, Buffalo: ‘Cloud-Net’.

List of Videos
1998 Cloud-Net, photographer.

2002 Instrumento de Luz, Conceptual Video based of work by Cecilia Vicuña.

2003 Empire Red, Video filmed of the Observation deck of the Empire State building of a performance between the poet Cecilia Vicuña and the sound artist Charlie Morrow; Empire White, Alternative version of the performance above.

2005 Bar Rapa Nui, A documentary recording the chance meeting between Indigenous Chilean poets and the poets Cecilia Vicuña and Jerome Rothenberg; Drums of Resistance, Documentary of a group of young anarchist musicians the night before they marched against the police barricades in Scotland.

2005 – 2006 As East Meets West, Some Repent, 2005-2006, Short video filmed by chance in front of the White House of a near confrontation between Buddhists and Born-Again Christians.

2005 – 2007 Happy ‘Enry Prologue, 2005-2007: a six part conceptual piece consisting of music, video and still photography.

2006 Dunes, photographer and video editor; Interview with an Iraqi Veteran, photographer and video editor.

2007 La Poesia del’ Abbandono, A set of conceptual videos, audio and still photographic work addressing the loss of religious and metaphysical faith in contemporary western culture.

2008 Alla Casa della Comare, Conceptual Video made with a local poet Raffaele Carlomagno in Basilicata, Italy, in the local language.

Publications with photographic or video credit
2008 Naked Punch Magazine, Issues 9, 10, 11 and 12. And the Naked Punch Supplement.

2005 Seis 2005, Publication of Foro de Escritores, Santiago, Chile .

2001 XCP8 (Cross Cultural Poetics), Gallery, Cecilia Vicuña.

1999 Cloud-Net, Cecilia Vicuña, Art in General, Inc., New York.

1996 Stone and Thread, Cesar Paternosto, University of Texas Press.